Head of Commercial - Fresh Produce

A senior commercial leadership role with a major fresh produce business, taking ownership of a sizeable portfolio across customers, growers, suppliers and source markets.

Head of Commercial - Fresh Produce

Location:

London
Hybrid working: typically 2-3 days per week in the office
Package: £100,000-£120,000 dependent on experience, plus car allowance and bonus

The Opportunity

This is a senior commercial role with a leading fresh produce business.

You'll take ownership of a significant commercial portfolio across defined produce categories, with responsibility for sales, margin, profitability, customer relationships, supplier alignment and commercial strategy.

This is not a narrow account management role. The business needs someone who understands fresh produce properly - not just customer conversations, but growers, source markets, seasonality, availability, quality, crop risk and the commercial realities.

The customer base is varied, covering retail, food service, wholesale, trading channels, and import. That means the role needs someone commercially sharp, comfortable with pace, and able to balance what customers want with what is realistic and profitable at source.

You'll lead a commercial team split across the UK and Spain, helping set direction, improve performance and make sure the business is making the right commercial decisions across customers, growers, suppliers and product categories.

Key Responsibilities

Lead the commercial strategy across a fresh produce portfolio.

Own sales, margin and profitability performance across a diverse customer base.

Build strong senior relationships with customers, suppliers, growers and internal stakeholders.

Lead commercial negotiations, pricing decisions and growth opportunities.

Use market, crop, supply and customer insight to support better commercial decisions.

Manage, develop and support a commercial team split across the UK and Spain.

Work closely with procurement, operations, finance, technical and logistics to balance customer needs, supply realities and profitability.

What We're Looking For

You'll need proven senior commercial experience within fresh produce, with the credibility to lead customer conversations and manage a sizeable commercial area.

Just as importantly, you'll need a proper understanding of the grower and supply side of fresh produce. This role needs someone who knows how product is grown, sourced, packed, shipped and supplied - and how seasonality, weather, quality, availability and crop performance affect the commercial outcome.

You'll likely bring:

Strong fresh produce commercial experience.

Experience managing meaningful sales, margin or P&L responsibility.

Exposure to growers, suppliers or source markets.

Confidence working with retail, wholesale, food service or trading customers.

Strong negotiation, pricing and relationship management skills.

Experience leading and developing a commercial team.

Good financial awareness and the ability to make clear commercial decisions quickly.

Why Join?

This is a chance to step into a senior, high-impact commercial role with real scale, variety and influence.

You'll be working with a recognised fresh produce business, managing an important category area, and dealing with a broad mix of customers rather than being boxed into one channel.

The role offers proper commercial ownership, senior stakeholder exposure, team leadership and the opportunity to shape performance across a sizeable area of the business.

It should suit someone who enjoys the full commercial picture in fresh produce: understanding customers, staying close to source, working with growers and suppliers, managing risk, and making decisions that protect both service and margin.

If you're interested in learning more, we'd be happy to have a confidential conversation